Means for controlling the flushing of urinals



March 23,, 1948. J, H. DERBY MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE FLUSHING OFURINALS Filed March 16, 1944 2 Sheet-Sheet 1 UN NN m xtkkrwi I-I-I-TJF-|-I-I-|.

INVENTOR 766ml REX j kv A TORNEY 2Sheets-Sheet 2 M I I c I I I 0 I \I II F 2 wI L I I I II I JZw/v M N I J INVENTOR I ATTORNEY March 23, 1948.J. H. DERBY MEANS FOR CONTR OLLING THE FLUSHIIIG 01f" URINALS FiledMarch 16, 1944 I I wh Patented Mar. 23, 1948 MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THEFLUSHING OF URINALS John H. Derby, Scarsdale, N.

' third to Y., asslgnor of one- C. Milton Wilson and one-third to H.

Dorsey Spencer, both of New York, N. Y. Application March 16, 1944,Serial No. 526,679 2 Claims. (Cl. 4-99) This invention relates to meansfor controlling the flushing of urinals, and particularly to means forinsuring effective flushing of urinals in the toilet rooms of publicbuildings, schools, business buildings, athletic clubs, etc.

Many different types of means for controlling the flushing of urinalshave been designed and are in use but for the most part these variousflush-controlling means do not accomplish the desired ends ofmaintaining the urinals clean and free from offensive odors. Possiblythe most common type in use today, particularly in business buildingsand official buildings, is the hand-operated valve intended to beoperated by the user of the urinal after using it. This type of control,which is the one most commonly installed, is probably the leasteffective since most people object to bringing their hands into contactwith either the hand-operated lever or the push button usually providedfor actuating controlling means of this type after others have had theirhands on it. The result is that the urinal is only infrequently flushed.Moreover, such flush controls are expensive to instal and to maintain inoperative condition since they require a complete operating unit,including a complicated valve, for each individual urinal.

Foot operated flush controlling means have also proved to beunsatisfactory, although less objectionable to most people to use. Onereason for the failure of the foot-operated control is that it mustnecessarily be placed where it is liable to be rendered inoperative byaccumulations of floor dirt mixed with moisture from the urinals. Thesefoot operated controls are-therefore, now rarely seen. This is equallytrue of those which were intended to be operated by the weight of theurinal user.

In some public buildings attempts have been made to overcome thedisinclination of urinal users to use manually operated controls forflushing the individual urinals by providing means for periodicautomatic flushing of all urinals in a bank of urinals. These systemshave two faults, in that they cause a needless waste of flushing waterand in that the flushing does not necessarily occur at the time when itis most needed, this being particularly true in warm weather whendecomposition quickly sets in.

' A general object of the present invention is to provide semiautomaticmeans, which are relatively inexpensive to instal and economical in use,for controlling the flushin of urinals, particularly where a pluralityof urinals are arranged side by side, and which will operate when everany urinal is used, without any volition on the part of the user, toeffect the flushing of the urinal and which will start this flushing assoon as the user comes into position in front of the urinal and beforehe starts actual use thereof and Will cause the flushing to continueuntil the user moves away from the urinal. Where the urinal is one of aplurality of urinals, as just suggested, the invention contemplates notonly flushing the one that is in use but flushing all of the others atthe same time to insure that occasional flushing of each urinal sonecessary to prevent odor producing decomposition from continuing, if ithas started for any reason in any of those that are not then in use.

An important feature of the invention is that, without volition on thepart of the user of the urinal, the semiautomatic means starts theflushing thereof before the user can begin to use the urinal and thusprevents any accumulation on the urinal surfaces of any decomposableexcretions.

Another important feature of the invention is the arrangement wherebythe presence of a user before any one of a plurality of urinals arrangedside by side will not only cause the flushing of all of the urinals butcause flushing to continue so long as any one of a plurality of usersremains in position to use any one of the urinals. This insureseifective flushing, without undue use of flushing water, a resultrarely, if ever, accomplished when reliance is had upon manual flushingand also not accomplished even by the water wasting periodic automaticflushing, as above pointed out.

Other advantages, important features and objects of the invention towhich reference has not hereinabove specifically been made will appearhereinafter when the following description and claims are considered inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a frontelevation of a bank of urinals having the semiautomatic flushcontrolling means of the present invention associated there with;

Figure, 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a wiring diagram showing the arrangement of the variouselements of the semi automatic flush controlling means and the elecricalconnections therebetween, and

Figure 4 is a view showing a modification of the arrangement shown inFigure 1 to permit the photoelectric cell and the source of illumination3 for energizing said cell to be located on the same side of the bank ofurinals.

4 being preferably provided with a fiow-controlling valve 8 to permitadjustment of the flow to each urinal so that uniform :distributionDixrthe water flowing through the'manifold fi toeach urinal 2 of thebank may be obtaine'd;-" The manifold 6 is in turn connected by a pipel!) to the water main or building supply, the flow of the water from thewater ing in turn controlled by an electrically operated valve l2. I

The. valve i2'may beef any suitable commercial type ofremote-controlled.valveand in its simplest: embodiment may comprise avalve stem Hi enclosed; within and constituting the movable core of asolenoid .0011 I5, thevalve beingimpelled toward-its .seat or closed,position-v either by a spring [8 or merely by-gravityand being moved toits c penrposition by energization of the solenoid'coil |.6,, the.solenoid coilbeing so positioned in respectctovthe valve stem,.which isof ma netic material, that the action of the energized solenoid inmovlng thevalvestem to itscentralized position in, theenerglzedsolenoidwill effect the opening of the valve.

In the form of the inventionshown in Figures 1, 2 andr3, there islocated at the right hand side of the bank of urinals,.as shown inFigures l and 2,v a photoelectric cellZll .enclosedwithin a suitableprotective casing or. housing 22 having an opening on its left hand,side to admit ener izing V to the. urinal, each intake .onthe stem dowilldrop and G8 to wires to and 52 from the main source of currentsupply and is thus constantly illuminated. One terminalor switch contact44 of the normally open circuit through the valve con trolling solenoidI6 is connected by a wire 54 to the main wire 52 at 68 and the otherterminal or switch contact 42 is connected throug h:wire 56, solenoid l6and-wire 58 tothe other main wire 59 at 46. It will thus be seen that ifthe solenoid 3i;v becomes deenergized the switch 38 carried down intobridging relation to the'terminalsor contacts 42 and 44' and close thecircuit through the solenoid l thus energizing saidsolenoid and openingthe valve I2.

main or building supply belight to the cell 20 and, at the left handside of the, bank of urinals, there islocated a suitable source of lightfor energizing the photoelectric cell such, for example, as anincandescent electric lamp 24 havingassociated therewith the usualoptical accessories, such as a reflector .26 and a lens 28,. fordirecting a beam of light. across the space 'in-rront of the urinalsuponthe photoelectric cell 20. The lamp 24. is preferably located in.ahousing 30 which has the beam directing lens 28 in. the right hand sidethereof and which also encloses .therelaythrough which flow of operatingcurrent'to. the valve-operating solenoid I6 is controlled.

As shown in the wiring photoelectric .cell 20. has tothetwo sides J andwhichincludes a solenoid .coil ,36 for maintaining the switch member 38of the relay switch in its open condition as shown. This relay switchmay be of .any suitable commercial type and is shown in its simplestform in Figure 3 as comprising a stem 40 serving as the movable solenoidcore and so related to the solenoid that when the solenoid is energized.and the. core centered therein the switch member. 38 will be held outof circuit closing relation tothecontacts or terminals 42 and. 44 of thevalve. operating circuit and thus the'solenoid coil 3 of the valve l2will remain unenergized and the valve will remain in its closedcondition.

As shown in Figure 3 of the drawings, the lampid, which jurnishes theenergizing light for the photoelectric cell 20, is connected at 46 itsterminals connected diagram in Figure 3., the

34 of an. electric circuit 7 So long as -the beam of light of the lamp24 impingesuponthephotoelectric cell 20 an energizing current,.-producedby the action of the light on the elements of the photoelectric cell 26,will flow through the circuit comprising the solenoid coil 36, thevvires32, 34 and the elements of the photoelectric cell 28 andrthe. switchmember 38 will be held in its circuit breaking position in the valveoperating circuit. silhi's beam of light; indicated at St], is solocated in front pi the bank of urinals 2 and at. suchaheight above thefloor that it will be intercepted by-;any.-,-person who comesinto'position. to-use any.one-oi the urinals 2. When this occurs theenergizationof the photoelectric cell 28 ceases, the:current flows. ingthrough the circuit including thegsolenoid tfi ceases and'the switch 38comes into-brid n relation to the terminal contacts and 44 and closesthe circuit through the: solenoid lbmthus opening 'thevalve l2andcausingflushingwater to flow through the-pipe l0, maniioldfi andeachof the intakes 4 to each ofthe urinals 2 ofithe entire bank of eighturinals Itwillbe seenthat so long as he or the user of anyother-t-urinal' stands in beam-intercepting-.- position in iront ofaurinal the flushing water will continue tdfiow but that as soon as thelast usenmovesrback so that he no longer intercepts the, beam thetDlRDtO- electric cell '20 will'again be energized'andithe solenoid36*wil1 lift the switch stem 4E1 andimove the switch ,38 into its opencircuit relation =to--the terminals or'contacts 42 and M, thusnopeningthe circuit through the solenoid i 6 and permitting the valve l2 againto close, and thusshut Ofiathe flushing water. 7

In the modifiedarrangement of the, relay-else ments shown in Figure 4 ofthe drawingsdlooth the light source 2% and the photoelectric cell 20;,

are-located upon the sameside or the banker urinals,xthat is, upon the"left hand side as shown in Figure 4,-and the light isrefiectedbackzfrom the light source to the photoelectric cell by :meansof a mirror 62 located on the righthand sidevof the bank of urinals. Itwill beobvious thatl ani" hatlelfl'ihfi interruptions of thereflected-beam will same effect as interruption of the direct beam. Whatis claimed as new is 1. In semi-automatic means for controlling theflushing of urinals, the COmbiHatlOHWfi'IhlZQiiplll rality of individualurinals arranged-side by side; and means associated witheachiiefidireeting flushing water thereover and, therethroughzi ofmanifold connections from said: flllSllidileClliIlmeans to any suitablesupply of sflushinguwater; an electrically operable valvebetween-saidimani fold and said flushing water supply roricontrollin thesimultaneous .ilow ofwater to all oifsaid flush-directing means, arelay-controlled.ielectric circuit for opening said valve andre'layg'overning means arranged to be actuated by -the" presence of aus-er ofany one of said urinals in position to make use thereof, said relaygoverning means being arranged to maintain said valve in open conditionto effect flushing of all of said urinals so long as the user remains inthe aforementioned position and being so located as to insure suchflushing flow before use of any urinal can take place.

2. Semi-automatic means for controlling the flushing of urinalsaccording to claim 1 in which the relay governing means comprise aphotoelectrio cell, an electric circuit in which said cell and relay areincluded and light means for energizing said cell, said cell and saidlight means being so arranged in relation to the row of urinals that theuser of any one of said urinals must intercept the energizing light beamwhenever he moves into and so long as he remains in a position where useof the urinal can be made.

i JOHN H. DERBY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 456,073 White July 14, 1881653,437 Burger et a1. July 10, 1900 775,719 Davidson Nov. 22, 1904FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 504,185 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1939

